I want to duet with you
by shamelesslygay
Summary: "Honestly though how do you duet in the shower together like that and then you don't duet in... other places." Based around the riff-off. They both like each other. This fic is like angst galore. Bechloe endgame. My first fic a long while, bear me and reviews and follows are lovely, thank you and enjoy!
1. To riff or not to riff

Beca paces up and down the ridiculously small space of her shared room, much to the obvious frustration of Kimmy-Jin, but Beca is honestly too stressed to even notice her. Ever since Jesse told her exactly what a riff-off is she's had a growing amount of nausea which is now reaching Aubrey-levels of bad. With only a few hours to go she's now cursing her father under her breath.

"Join in Beca! It'll be fun!" he said. This isn't exactly what she had in mind when she somehow joined an a cappella group. Lezbereal, she really only joined because of The Ginger. But now it is starting to get serious, with the Bellas, not Chloe, she wishes it was getting serious with Chloe.  
She wishes it was getting _something_ with Chloe, but no. It feels like they're wanting to sing a duet but no one is sure who starts, or even what they're singing, geez that sounds cheesy as hell, but honestly though how do you duet in the shower together like that and then you don't duet in… other places.

All Beca knows at this stage is that the riff-off seems more and more nerve-wrecking, but also Chloe will be there, but also everyone else, Beca isn't sure anymore if she's going to rehearsals because of her dads promise or because of the redhead.  
Beca wishes she'd have the guts to send one of the many mixes in her Ginger-folder to the ginger in question, just to see what would happen, if anything would happen. The amount of times she's showered more than twice a day in hope of a repeat is really quite absurd, and definitely not eco-friendly.  
She has a feeling Chloe would scold her about that fact rather than be freaked out that Beca has turned the showers into her lesbian hideout.

Beca glares at her phone lying on her bed, debating internally back and forth between her options. She could bail out, it's not like she contributes much anyway to the group, not that she's really allowed anyway thanks to Aubrey. She could just start showing up to her classes and actually write the occasional essay, maybe that would be enough. The thought of it feels like the first time she heard Justin Bieber.  
But bailing out means bailing on the human version of a puppy, and she doesn't even like puppies, but she does like this human version. A lot. Too much. Far too much. Bailing means the Bellas definitely won't reach their dreams of going to Lincoln Center this year, lezbereal when Chloe asked her that, her eyes, it was like a punch in her stomach and when she finally remembered how to breathe she blurted out the worst lie possible.  
"Sorry, I don't even sing." If only the ginger knew. Don't even sing, fffyeah right. Beca was surprised she didn't say something equally dumb like "Sorry, I don't even like gingers." Well at least she'll never know, Beca had thought. She didn't get to be right about that for very long, the singing that is, thank Yoncé.  
She'd had to bolt after that, especially since her brain was 5 seconds away from asking if the redhead had any other skills to perform with her mouth because Beca would love to hear that answer.


	2. What's French for coffee?

Kimmy-Jin is just about to tell Beca to go and wear the floor down somewhere else when she hears her throw herself on the bed and sigh deeply. She has no idea how someone so tiny can be so loud, she would be amazed unless she'd already decided to be annoyed.  
Beca grabs her phone, absentmindedly biting her lower lip. She knows she shouldn't do what she's about to do, because it will explain things in equally terrifying ways. Terrifying to the point that Becas fingers suddenly type faster than her brain can censure.  
"Um hi Chlo, it's Beca, I don't know if I am coming tonight…I'm sort of thinking I should maybe quit because lezbereal Aubrey hates me and I don't think I can handle singing I saw the sign ever again..so um, yeah, you'll be great tonight tho, aca-tastic!" It takes her a few seconds and then her eyes widen in shock as she realises what she's done.  
First of all she actually sent that message. Looking at it now it looks more terrible than a first draft of 50 Shades, how is that even possible… Secondly she basically outed herself, unless people say lezbereal while meaning nothing gay of it?, and she definitely wasn't planning on outing herself just now today like that.  
Thirdly, aca-tastic? Really? Maybe she really should quit. Not to mention she said "it's Beca" as if the redhead didn't already have her number saved, not as Beca though, but as "La petite sauterelle".

 _The first time Beca saw the nickname was when Chloe texted her for the first time, a few days after hood night. She got the nickname at hood night though. The redhead had ran back up to Beca after she got her jiggle-juice and she'd stood even closer making Beca more than a little thankful that she'd yet to have a drink, otherwise the tiny brunette would be flirting terribly with the ginger at that stage. Not terribly as in a lot, but terribly as in actually terrible. Beca could never figure flirting out, although she was pretty sure that the ginger was flirting with her, the way she leaned in and basically gave Beca a heart attack because she was sure the drunken kiss was coming, but no "I think… that.. we'll be really fast friends" came instead. What does that mean? It sounds pretty flirty. Best to mention how you've already seen me naked and give it my best shot at winking.  
"Actually Beca, since we will be very fast friends-" she whispered even lower than before, Beca wasn't sure how she could hear her over the noise of the party and the way her heart was drumming in her chest. Chloe's hands were on Becas hips now, whether she was steadying herself from falling over or actually making a move on her she didn't know, potentially both. Beca was starting to feel the ever so familiar anxiety creeping up over her back, it was all a bit too much now and too many people around, she couldn't help interrupting Chloe.  
"Oh I see, so it's a 'will' now huh?" she teased. Chloe missed it though and her eyes went wide as though she'd done something wrong, she started to pull her hands away.  
Beca mentally kicked herself when she saw what Chloe was thinking and she even surprised herself when she grabbed Chloe's hands and put them right back where they belonged. Uh, right back where they'd just been.  
"I kid, Ginger. I do that a lot. You should get used to that now that we _will _be friends" she smiled and rubbed her thumbs over the back of Chloe's hands. For some reason it calmed her down, her anxiety started to crawl back under its rock and then Chloe's eyes lit up and she smiled so honestly, so purely, like a kid that's been given an ice-cream factory for their birthday, Beca had to re-think if she was actually still sober or if she was getting drunk on a different kind of ginger beer.  
"Okay?" she asked and the redhead just nodded slowly, her eyes still glowing. "Now, I'd like to hear the story of why you had to run back up, well done in those shoes by the way" she said with a nod down to the redheads heeled boots, and then she leaned in and whispered just next to the redheads ear, "and please, spare me no details…" she murmured and she felt Chloe's grip getting just a bit tighter on her hips and she suddenly felt her mouth go dry. She was definitely getting drunk on a different kind of ginger beer. She took a deep breath, oh god how do you even smell so good, reluctantly straightened up and peered down at Chloe with her best impression of the Queen of England, trying her best to look serious, more than anything because she absolutely didn't trust herself just now.  
It was almost as if Chloe could tell what she was doing, which sounds crazy because Beca can't do impressions whatsoever, but this girl seemed to have some special powers, at least over Beca. She too straightened up, ever so slightly really, and then her face turned into the cutest face Beca had ever seen: drunk, playing serious, scrunching of the nose and with blue eyes that were the warmest and deepest that Beca had ever seen. Serious serious serious, oh bollocks this is not happening. "Well, you see, m'lady, I was thinking that since we will be friends, it would perhaps be of convenience to the both of us if we were to exchange numbers, in case we want to do friendly things with each other… What do you say?"  
Beca wanted to burst out laughing and kiss her adorable face and many other things that should be left unsaid and oh god why did you have to do a slightly English accent, Beca subconsciously moved her fingers under Chloe's and their palms met, Chloe's hands were soft and warm and slightly bigger than her own, they linked their fingers together and Beca thought she might pass out soon. She felt dehydrated and faint and her heart surely had made a dent on her ribcage by now._

 _She could only nod and the redhead decided to match it, they're suddenly nodding together and okay now she needs to get out because she's learned the hard way not to flirt with drunk people, if they are flirting even, she's still not sure, but if this isn't flirting then she really has no idea what is.  
She disconnects her left hand from Chloe's right and leans in closer, moving her hand over Chloe's hips, around over her lower back, down, Chloe is biting her lip, why is that so fucking hot, oh this was such a dumb idea, her hand is on her cheek now, ah yes there we go, score, she smiles nervously and quickly fishes up Chloe's phone from her back pocket and pulls back, just as she can feel Chloe's breath on her neck, it almost felt like lips were on it. She clears her throat and holds up the phone between them, surprised it doesn't explode from the mass of energy confined to such a small space.  
Chloe has the quickest look of disappointment in her eyes but she blinks it away and brings her hand up to the phone. Instead of just taking the phone off Beca she decides to let Beca hold it and she holds Becas hand instead. Her other hand is still holding Becas other hand and Beca just realised she's got no idea how long Chloe has been stroking her hand with her thumb, she also realised she has no objections thus far in terms of all this physical contact. She swipes the screen, punches in the code and goes into Phone, bringing up the Keypad. She then turns her face to Beca who no longer remembers how to breathe correctly, let alone her phone number, and raises her eyebrows expectantly, a smile curving her lips._

 _"Uhh… Umm….." She knows it starts with 0, the same number as her current brain capacity.  
Chloe's smile grows wider, she's got the same smile as when they finished singing in the shower and now Becas cheeks are really burning hot, she quickly wonders how visible that is in this light, no really she hasn't got a clue what her number could possibly be.  
"That's okay, I got your information before, remember?" Beca has a vague memory of signing her name, number, house name and dorm on a form for the Bellas, pretending she was entering a lottery where the prize was an evening with Beale.  
"Right… Cool." She's nodding again.  
"You do that a lot, hey?" the ginger smiles softly.  
"What?"  
Chloe nods in response and the lightbulb suddenly goes off, making Beca snort and shake her head. "Wait no, I mean…" she nods and then they nod together again, Beca feeling dumb but happy and Chloe looking like a puppy that's just found out how much it likes belly-rubs.  
"Okay well, I think I'm gonna nod off" Beca says with a nod back to her house, starting to pull away from Chloe. How have they not kissed like 7 times over already? She wants to stay and find out but she'd rather do that when there's been no alcohol involved._

 _The belly-rubs stopped and Beca regrets it already, how can one person look so much like a puppy and yet obviously not.  
Chloe pulls away too and gently takes her phone from Becas grasp, she looks at Beca and gives her one sharp nod.  
"Okay. Do you want me to talk, I mean walk, do you want me to take you home?"  
The brunettes brain suddenly kickstarts into roaring action and she can think of so many answers to that, time to go. Time to go home. Alone.  
"I'm alright, I can probably walk straighter than you, not that I'm much for straight but um right no yeah thanks Beale but I'm good." she quickly leans forward and kisses Chloe on the cheek before the redhead has a chance to process what she just said and oh fuck this was really a dumb idea Mitchell, put the ginger beer down, put it down!_

 _She pulls back even quicker now and untangles her other hand from Chloe's, much to the hands disappointment who now suddenly feels cold and alone, Chloe's eyes are half-closed and she's biting her lip again.  
Beca can't help but to bring her hand up to Chloe's cheek, softly stroking her fingers over the spot she just kissed. Chloe leans in to her touch and Beca feels, well actually she doesn't know, she feels far too much, far too much already, she's only been at Barden two weeks.  
"Hey Beale, I'm gonna leave now but I'm hoping for a text soon, 'kay?" She pulls her hand back and Chloe stirs, she won't meet the brunettes gaze for a few seconds but then she takes a deep breath and a nervous smile forms on her lips. She looks Beca directly in the eyes and then she nods._

 _"'Kay, la petite sauterelle."  
"La petite what now?" Beca's had too much ginger beer.  
Chloe did not just French her. Talk French to her. Agh, they're both terribly wonderful but at least one didn't happen.  
"It's your new nickname."  
"What does it mean?"  
"Do you drink coffee?" she's smirking now, her eyes are glowing with mischief.  
"Seriously? I thought coffee was like café in French."  
She giggles at this and lightly punches Beca on the shoulder.  
"No silly, I'm asking you if you drink coffee."  
"Are you kidding, it's basically all I'm eating since I came to Barden. Why?" she eyes the redhead suspiciously.  
"I will tell you over a coffee, and perhaps some food because you can't eat coffee Becs."  
Becs. She's never really had a nickname before. She minds less than she thought she would. She actually really wants Chloe to say it again.  
"Bonne nuit, ma petite sauterelle" she says instead, softly taking one of Becas hands and placing a light kiss on the top of it, okay she is flirting, this has got to be flirting, oh god what happens now, stop it with that smile I can't handle anymore.  
"I'm gonna… nod off, I'll see you soon Mitchell" she nods back down to the crowd and then she winks, turns like a ballerina on the spot and then she walks off, just like that, and Beca is left with a head screaming full of thoughts, funny, it matches her heart which is still on highest volume.  
She stands there for a second and then she lifts her hands to her cheek and, looking down to make sure the redhead isn't looking her way, she presses her hand gently against her cheek, a trembling smile going through her. She looks out at the crowd again and realises she may have to rethink her opinions about this whole a cappella thing. Beca then turns around and slowly starts walking home, her legs doesn't seem to remember their purpose anymore.  
But that's okay. Everything's quite okay. A cappella is quite okay._


	3. Lezbereal

She didn't think she'd actually do it and now the fearful anticipation is crawling under her skin like ants feasting on a dying butterfly. "Lezbereal. Aca-tastic."? For fucks sake. She wants to be taken out of her self-constructed misery and she's not even sure what way she wants it to go.

Either Chloe will find her silly and tell her to come be aca-tastic with her (somehow the idea of that word doesn't seem so bad when Beca imagines the redhead saying it) or Beca just shot down her future with the Bellas, and she doesn't even know how she feels about that, she thought she'd feel relieved but that is not what stirs in her at the thought of it. It feels more like when she has an unfinished mix, where she just can't find the right beat.

That would also mean that she'd have to find something else to prove to her dad that she's really committed so she can move to L.A. next year. Another group? One that definitely does not have a Beale in it. Beca's stomach suddenly suffers an unexpected case of vertigo and she falls down on her side, clutching on to her phone as if it's a life jacket made out of live venomous snakes. It's been a whole two minutes now and Chloe hasn't replied yet which is highly unusual.

The ants just found more butterflies to gut open and tear to shreds. She keeps looking at the message, challenging it to a staring contest as if it will cave under her stubbornness and somehow make that little typing bubble appear. She can almost hear the butterflies scream in literal gut-wrenching agony now. Three minutes.

Chloe is trying to pick out an outfit for tonight's riff-off. Well, that's not entirely true but also not entirely false. She's trying to pick something for the riff-off but more so she's trying to look nice in front of Beca. Something nice but also comfortable but also something that's not trying too hard to impress while at the same trying to impress. Does that even make sense? Beca. When had this happened?

Well, she knows exactly when. The very first time she saw her Chloe had wanted to get under that plaid shirt and into those tight jeans. And then they had their shower moment. And that's when Chloe knew for sure that she wanted to get under that loofah. Beca could sing, she could harmonise on demand in a shower, literally. Maybe it was because Chloe was already majorly riled up thanks to Tom so when Beca started singing while being stark naked, Chloe couldn't exactly stop herself from getting slightly more turned on, although she still solemnly swears that she did not intend for that to happen.

Beca could've just left the shower, she could've pushed Chloe right out the way and stormed out, leaving Chloe with more shame than she'd been able to handle. Beca could've done that. But Beca didn't. But in the moment Chloe was still too hot, in all senses of the word, to be anything but turned on.

She was however not about to start something in the shower with a girl that barely knew her name, and certainly not while Tom was waiting in the next stall. That wouldn't be fair on anybody and as much as Chloe enjoyed casual hookups with both guys and girls, she was always honest towards everybody involved.

She'd been on the other end of it once, led on for far too long and in the end she felt used, like she'd been the subject of an experiment with a very negative outcome. It'd taken her a while to get over that and she vowed to never put anybody else in that position.

And then Beca had auditioned.

Chloe had had time to calm down after the shower, days, too many days, too much time to think about how good they sounded and how perfectly relaxed they had been, how Chloe couldn't believe that was only their second interaction, and they hadn't even surpassed a total of five minutes together yet. It all seemed too good to be real and in the hours leading up to the auditions Chloe was sure that the only time she'd ever see Beca again was across campus, Beca spotting Chloe in the corner of her eye, maybe at best they exchange an awkward wave of the hand but she can see Beca quickly turning that cute behind on her and leaving Chloe as fast as she had found her.

The auditions started and sure enough Beca wasn't there. She wasn't there and the auditions were making a matching score for Chloe's mood: with each audition everything just got a little bit worse.

And then it was over. Beca hadn't showed up and Chloe could feel her chest tightening, in a way it hadn't for years.

But then, in the far corner of her periphery she sees a tiny shape of dark clothes and brown hair and her blood suddenly feels like nitroglycerin, like she could go off at any second if she just so much as breathes.

How she even manages to call Beca forward she doesn't know.

And then Beca sits down. She asks for the cup holding all of Aubreys pens. Somewhere far at the back of her mind Chloe can feel how this annoys Aubrey but it's only very faint, she can barely even hear herself speak over her heart threatening to burst through its cage.

And then Beca starts auditioning.

And something changes within Chloe.

With every word, with every twist and turn and beat of that cup against the floor she feels herself fall uncontrollably.

This isn't just some talented hot girl that Chloe wants to casually have a good time with. This is serious. This is...oh my aca-gods, this is Dixie Chicks serious.

Chloe has already been through her entire wardrobe once, nothing seems right, she's about to start round two when she hears the familiar buzz of her phone lying on her bed. She quickly skips over and before she can even reach it she reads the French nickname on the screen and her eyes light up, she can't help the large grin forming on her lips. She imagines Beca asking something practical, like will they be allowed to sing something other than "I saw the sign", Beca seems shy sometimes but she never wants to arrive unprepared, she asked Chloe what to expect for the SBT party as well.

Chloe slides the screen to the right and smiles even wider when she sees that Beca called her Chlo and she giggles when she sees that Beca identified herself, and then her smile sort of stops, like the music at a club when they're closing, with the fluorescent lights coming on too quickly and the contrast is too strong, like you're off-beat with the world for a moment, and you can't quite move differently because you were moving to the song, moving with the song.

Chloe's suddenly off-beat with the world, she reads the text over and over, it doesn't make sense, none of it makes sense, what does lezbereal, you don't say that unless you're, Aubrey doesn't hate you, aca-tastic? You don't say lezbereal if you're not a rainbow-cookie, what do you mean quit? She feels like the lights suddenly changed, like everything moved and it's just slightly out of place like when Chandler tried to be nice and clean Monica's apartment but everything is slightly wrong, Chloe can feel her chest tightening and she can't bear to look at her phone anymore, it suddenly looks alien. Her fingers react without her mind stopping her and she types out a reply and then turns the phone on mute and puts it upside down on the bedside table. She slowly moves over to the light-switch and puts her finger to it, it feels strange, like all her nerve-endings are running high, she turns the switch off, the decrease in light calming her ever so slightly. She doesn't move, she just stands holding her finger over the button and silently she leans her head against the wall, her legs suddenly feeling like they're not interesting in supporting her anymore. She can feel her nodes starting to hurt slightly.

The typing bubble suddenly appears. And disappears just as fast. It gets replaced with a one word text and the ants inside her just turned into wolves, circling round, ready for the kill.

"Okay."

It's not. Nothing's okay.


End file.
